He joined forces with metal detectorist pal Don Corden and they headed down to Cudmore Fisheries in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs.

“I went without a ring for two years until the fisheries rang me and said they were draining the lake, asking whether I wanted to take the chance to search” he said.

On a mission: Don uses his equipment to search the bed of the drained fishing lake (Photo: Carl Rutherford)

“I had been fishing in an area of around 40 square metres so I knew the chances of finding it were remote. But a tiny hope was better than no hope at all so I contacted Don and we went down to the lake.

“The metal detector was beeping every few seconds as it came across pieces of wire, tin cans and all kinds of other debris.

“After a while I gave up all hope and went to sit in the cafe, feeling as though we’d totally wasted our time.

“It was only a few minutes later that Don came in grinning and handed over the ring.

"I just couldn’t believe it, he said it was buried under four inches of silt but the metal detector still picked it up.”

Wedding day: Louise and Andy May (Photo: Carl Rutherford)

Andy said nothing to Louise, simply slipping the band back onto his wedding finger.